I forgot

some important information about Coen being 2.

For instance, he knows some colors. Well…he knows the colors of his plates and cups. He is also starting to become opinionated in which color he wants at a certain time. Yesterday at one meal he climbed onto the table and switched with one of his brothers. Luckily the brothers weren’t in the room yet, so there wasn’t a fight over plates.

I realized that his color knowledge is limited to his plates when he took the red crayon yesterday and called it orange.

He counts to 10 and then goes beyond, although I think 14 makes it in about 5 times between 10 and 20.

He loves to sing the ABC’s. He sings about 60% of the song clearly. He loves it so much and he gets so excited to sing it, it’s hard to not join in with him. He loves to sing about any song, really. He also loves to dance. I’ve gotten videos of him dancing lately and will have to make a compilation because he’ll dance for a couple of seconds to a song and then stop.

I’ve been more relaxed teaching the “academic” things to Coen. Probably because there isn’t as much time for he and I to sit down and read the books that Malachi and I could with the colors, and shapes, etc. But our helpers do teach them that stuff. John and I have such fun discovering them knowing things we didn’t teach them.

Sometimes, I get a little jealous that they’re not learning it from me, but mostly I’m just happy that I have awesome helpers.

My baby isn’t a baby

Coen recently turned 2.

It occurred to me the other day, that I don’t have any more babies. That’s weird to me, but at the same time liberating. By this time next year, we should (hopefully) be done with diapers (he actually started sitting on the toilet a couple of months ago and now recognizes when he needs to go potty) – and then life enters a whole new stage.

But for now he’s still in diapers, and I can hang on to his baby-ness for just a little bit longer.  He doesn’t make it easy though, because he’s developing at such a fast rate.

He has a vocabulary that I haven’t seen in any 2 year old. My favorite thing that he was recently saying was “Pachai” for Malachi. He took a while to say his own name, but he’s getting a hang of it. Simon is being said with more accuracy, too. He uses so many words, that I’m having a hard time actually thinking of the ones he uses.

He loves decorating my floors and furniture and interior doors with his and his brother’s stickers. It might be time to put them up out of reach.

He still eats almost anything you put in front of him, but his favorite foods is bananas. He’d eat three a day if we allowed it.

He loves to be with his nanny, Lucy. He’s such a lucky boy to have three adults in the house that love him so much. He’s always sad when she’s not in the house, and he asks for her on her days off.

He loves the pool! He’s wearing floaties and swimming around on his own. He “jumps (it’s more like throwing himself forward)” off the stairs, and sometimes off the side of the pool. He points at the pool and says “our pool” and asks for his “swim suit.” He doesn’t mind going under water, and sometimes even likes it. Whenever one of his brothers starts asking to go in the pool he starts saying “our pool? our pool?”

Not everything is super sunshiny in Coen’s world. His brothers really get on his nerves sometimes. The strength of his dislike for them equals the strength of his love at times. I think he’s teething his 2 year molars (early stages of teething). He gets frustrated with the inability to do things independently that his brothers can do.

But more so than not, he’s enjoying his world. He loves his family, the outdoors, swimming, food, dancing, singing, T.V., movies, music videos, and life in general. He’s a very happy boy.

I hope he’s ok with it, he’ll always be my baby.

It's official

Yesterday's early release at the Embassy and the flooding confirm it: it's rainy season.

I thought maybe it was early, then I realized that we got here late July last year, so maybe I just arrived late. Then someone on facebook said it is early. Hopefully it doesn't just carry through like this. I think I would have a hard time being stuck in the house if it's flooding all the time.

On a happier note: I had a great visit with my sister! She was here for almost three weeks. Mostly it was just us relaxing (somehow I let her leave having only had one massage - how did that happen?!), but we did some touristy things too.

We went to: Ft. Santiago in Intramuros, Divisoria (think local market/bazaar), and Greenhills (pearls!). We tried to see the sunset at the bay, but unfortunately I picked a bad spot for it. She saw parts of the Embassy, and the school. And we traveled!

It was my first time traveling in the Philippines without John and it was weird to go to a beach resort without him. I had to get my mind out of romantic vacation mode and into sister vacation mode. Unfortunately I didn't do a good job explaining myself at the spa and I accidentally booked us a romantic cooling wrap treatment. It dawned on me after we were both laying on the tables having ice cold green mix that looked like guacamole put on us. "They think we're a couple!" I said. My sister agreed. They did think that. Oh well, it was still fun.

We went to Mactan Island which is connected to Cebu Island which is South East of here. It only was about an hour and a half flight to get there. The resort picked us up and brought us back to the airport when it was time to go. We ventured out to a restaurant that Anthony Bourdain said had the best pork ever. I didn't think so, I'd had better at home, but it wasn't bad. The resort itself, Bluewater Maribago, was a bit above average. I'd had worse, I'd had better. We went on a Deal Grocer deal, and I'd return with kids on a Deal Grocer deal. There were a lot of families there, actually. But there's a Shangri-La down the road that offers a government rate...we'll probably do that with the kids instead.

We ate out a ton while she was here. It's hard to get out of that habit, but I'm working on it.

She says she had a good time, and I think I believe her. I really hope it was a memorable trip. And I really hope she got the rest she deserves after her super hard school year. We loved having her here.

Oh and Steph - you were included in Malachi's family picture the other day. Thought you'd like to know.

I’ve been thinking

that I’ve been very silent lately. I’ve been busy.

My sister has been in town for over a week. I feel like she has been busy, but somehow we haven’t done much. I’ve been posting photos and check-in’s on facebook. I hope that our family feels updated frequently on what we’re doing.

We’ve eaten out, we’ve eaten in. She’s seen parts of the Embassy, she’s seen parts of the school. She’s been to the mall, and done a bit of shopping. She’s been to movies, and quiz night, and our favorite watering hole. She’s integrated well into our life here.

Systirs at quiz night 

The kids love having her here. She’s amazing with my children. Though she has none of her own, and not a lot of experience with children, I feel totally comfortable leaving them in the play room and taking a nap (which I’ve done a time or two…or three).

Aunt Steph at “Reading with Parents”

Her trip is only about half done, and we need to get moving on her “to-do” list. We’ll start it in a few days. Tomorrow she and I are jet-setting to another island for a spa weekend. I couldn’t be more excited.

On a completely unrelated note:

I saw this on facebook recently and shared it on my own wall. I love the saying (and her hair!!). I live with someone who seems to think this way naturally. He’s a much happier person than I am. It should be my mantra until I master it.

Embracing Yourself

I am not a hip hop dancer. So when I went dancing last weekend with a couple of pros and some other friends who were also awesome, instead of trying to be who I wasn’t, I enjoyed watching those who can do it really well. I would try to mimic some moves and did a couple successfully.

Because I was embracing how poorly I can dance hip hop, and because I was just focusing on having fun…I really had fun!

I think I’d like to apply this principle to other areas of my life. I look forward to having more fun.

“A Peaceful Plant”

Malachi’s class had a field trip. They’re learning about plants in school, so they went to the local outdoor plant market at the mall across the street from their school. I went as a parent supervisor.

We walked to the market which took us about fifteen minutes. Right now it’s hot and sunny in Manila, so that fifteen minutes was pretty hard on most of us.

Once we were at the market their teacher gave them instructions on their assignment and told them to explore.

I had two boys with Malachi and me and they really liked the little cactuses at the very front. So they asked the woman who sells them their questions three and wrote their answers. Malachi kind of liked the cactuses, but he really wanted a “peaceful plant.”

One thing you may not know about Malachi is how sweet he is. He’s sensitive, loving, caring, kind, and so sweet. So I wasn’t surprised when he said he wanted the “peaceful plant”, it just endeared him to me even more.

The older I get the more peace I want in my life. Maybe it’s because I have three young boys. Maybe it’s because there’s a lot of stress in living abroad and in frequent moves. Whatever the reason, I very much treasure peace (and quiet). So I understood Malachi’s desire to have a “peaceful plant.”

He picked a very pretty, very peaceful plant…that he left in his cubby at school. It’s a good thing that it’s an indoor/low water plant!

Since it’s at school, I can’t take a picture of it for you. But here’s a picture of what it looks like.

Photo courtesy of My Gardin in Japan

It’s not a calla lily but it does look like one. His is this color, but it has a bright yellow and tall stamen or pistil, I don’t know which it is.

I hope Malachi has a greener thumb than his parents.

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar

Disclaimer: All photos were taken by John. Also, my internet is wonky right now and I can’t get the resort’s website to work. I apologize for things like: “Filipino restaurant” and “Italian Restaurant” instead of giving the names. I’ve been sitting on this post for weeks, so I didn’t want to wait any longer.

John is amazing at planning trips. He has been since before we were married (at 20 years old). When his parents were coming into town we figured that we had to get out of the city for at least a couple of nights. They had a trip planned to Bangkok and Phuket so we didn’t feel that a beach trip was necessary. We thought about doing the typical Baguio trip, but I didn’t feel like being squished in the car for that drive, plus we thought there isn’t much to keep the children occupied.

So he researched different options. We thought about driving to Batangas and ferrying over to Puerta Galera. But, that’s a beach trip.

He found a resort in the city of Bagac in the province of Bataan called Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. It’s a resort that’s mostly colonial Spanish mansions that have been moved from other parts of the Philippines to this resort. He reserved two rooms. One was a suite with loft so there was one room big enough for kids.

We left our house just before 9:00 a.m. on a Wednesday and made it to the NLEX in 40 minutes. The drive going out of the city wasn’t bad, it was the poor souls going into the city on the NLEX that were moving at a snails pace. “How do we avoid that?!” I exclaimed “Don’t leave the city,” was my husband’s reply. It was quite discouraging. After driving North for a while I forgot the traffic and looked forward to a short vacation.

We stopped at Jollibee for lunch. We tried going to the golden arches, but couldn’t find parking. It was my first, and last, experience at Jollibee. The food is not good. The Filipinos really like it though, it’s quite popular here. Malachi and the kids eat it, so they can continue to order delivery when we’re out. Just as long as I don’t have to eat it.

We arrived at our resort about four hours after departure, making our driving time about 3 1/2 hours.

The building on the left is the registration building (this is the rear side)

Security was high, but we went through the outer gate and parked at reception after being given permission to pass through gate 2 (only driven through for pick up/drop off). After parking in front of the registration building the guys checked us in while the girls stretched their legs.

Gate 2 with the registration building on the right 

Two porters brought our things to our rooms. The building we were in was Paseo de Escolta. It’s a constructed building with new and old materials, but you wouldn’t know that to walk in the building and up the stairs. You would think the whole building was five hundred years old. You walk through your room’s door and are still amazed at how authentic it looks. Except for the flat screen T.V. and A/C (and electricity, obviously) the room feels very colonial Spanish. The bathroom is definitely modern. It melds well with the theme of the room, even though it’s obviously five hundred years different (Plus it has a bath tub! I don’t have a single tub in my house, so I was so excited to have a bath.).

Paseo de Escolta

We put our stuff down and changed to our swimming suits to head over to the beach. When we got to the beach we were unpleasantly surprised by how hot the sand was. It’s dark, volcanic sand since it’s right by a volcano. With the sun blaring down on it in the hot Filipino summer, the beach it hot, hot, hot. The water was nice, though. It’s calm, the ground is rock free and smooth, and there was no wild life. If you venture from the beach to the lagoon, be careful – there are dangerous tiny spikes off something (I can’t remember what). The husb had three in his feet. I had to use tweezers to get them out.

The walking bridge to the beach 

Dark sand beach

Coen and I went in the room to rest for a bit. While we did that everyone else went to the pools. The water is different, but doesn’t seem bad. Our kids loved the pools and we all went back the next day.

The deep pool (4 ft) 

The shallow pool, perfect for kiddies 

The resort had two restaurants open during our stay. We tried to go to the Italian restaurant, our first night, but we were too early. So we had dinner at the Filipino/Spanish restaurant. We all enjoyed our food, even though we had low expectations. The service wasn’t horrible, but I’ve had better…even in Manila. This restaurant is also where they served breakfast, which came with our rooms. We had the American breakfast (eggs, toast, bacon). It wasn’t great, the eggs and bacon were both undercooked, but I’ve had worse. The second morning I asked for my bacon to be cooked more and everyone’s came out darker. 

The second day we went on a shorter road trip up to Zoobic Safari (I can’t find pictures). The kids loved it. We paid for the guided tour and headed out on our two and a half hour guided safari. We were in a large-ish group with our awesome tour guide. She and Simon became great friends.

At one point we got into jeepneys with the windows barred up. We drove into the tiger enclosure and one of the safari employees shoved raw chicken through the holes in the bars. The tiger was inches away from us. After that, we went to the lion enclosure and did the same thing. The lions were so pretty, especially the lioness. She was my favorite animal in the whole park.

After two and a half hours at Zoobic we were dirty, hot, and tired. But we all had a really good time.

After the road trip back, it was time for the other pool visit that I previously mentioned. After the pool, and some rest, we had dinner at the Italian restaurant. Funny tangent…the hotel called the room earlier in the day to see if I wanted a reservation in one of the restaurants for dinner. When I made the 6:00 dinner reservation at the Italian restaurant I was happy knowing that we’d have a place. For most of the dinner, we were the only ones there. Apparently I didn’t need to be worried.

New construction on the left. Old Mansion on the right which houses the Italian Restaurant. 

The food there got mixed reviews in our group. I enjoyed it, John thought it was ok. The kids all ate their fill, and to have all three kids eat successfully at one meal is awesome. It’s a win in my book.

After dinner it was bed time! The beds in the hotel are hard, and not in a bad way. I have a memory foam mattress, so I’m used to hard beds. But the pillows are hard too! Neither of us was happy with the pillows.

The next morning after breakfast, we walked around to take pictures and then headed out for our drive home.

We enjoyed our time there a lot and if there weren’t so many places to go in such a short amount of time, we’d probably go back. I’d recommend it for someone who likes a bit of isolation. The resort isn’t stroller friendly and if you’re in Escolta instead of a house you could be climbing three long flights of stairs to get to your room.

It’s a fun adventure and a unique place to stay.